BEIRUT – A US strike carried out on Friday at a Syrian airbase killed four soldiers and destroyed its all facilities, a monitoring group said.

“An air commodore was among the four soldiers killed,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed.

“The airbase was almost completely destroyed — the runway, the fuel tanks and the air defences were all blown to pieces,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.

Only Latakia airbase in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on the Mediterranean coast, where his ally Russia also maintains extensive facilities, is more extensive.

Washington said that Russian military officials in Syria were informed before the attack in order to avoid casualties.

After the orders of President Donald Trup, the United States has launched missile strikes on Friday targeting a Syrian airbase controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town.

According to Pentagon official, about 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean at the airbase.

Earlier , US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should have no role in a future Syria.